Hunterland


 
 
 
 
 HUNTERLAND
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 DANA CLAIRE
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CONTENTS
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1. Olivia
 
 
 2. Liam
 
 
 3. Olivia
 
 
 4. Liam
 
 
 5. Liam
 
 
 6. Olivia
 
 
 7. Olivia
 
 
 8. Liam
 
 
 9. Olivia
 
 
 10. Liam
 
 
 11. Olivia
 
 
 12. Liam
 
 
 13. Olivia
 
 
 14. Liam
 
 
 15. Liam
 
 
 16. Olivia
 
 
 17. Liam
 
 
 18. Olivia
 
 
 19. Liam
 
 
 20. Pepper
 
 
 21. Olivia
 
 
 22. Olivia
 
 
 23. Liam
 
 
 24. Olivia
 
 
 25. Liam
 
 
 26. Olivia
 
 
 27. Pepper
 
 
 28. Liam
 
 
 29. Olivia
 
 
 30. Liam
 
 
 31. Olivia
 
 
 Acknowledgments
 
 
 About the Author
 
 
 More from CamCat Books
 
 
 Our Vengeful Souls
 
 
 
 
 More Young Adult Titles from CamCat Books
 
 
 CamCat Books
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CamCat Publishing, LLC
 Brentwood, Tennessee 37027
 camcatpublishing.com
 
 
 This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
 © 2023 by Dana Claire
 All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address CamCat Publishing, 101 Creekside Crossing Suite 280, Brentwood, TN 37027.
 
 
 Hardcover ISBN 9780744307344
 Paperback ISBN 9780744307351
 Large-Print Paperback ISBN 9780744307368
 eBook ISBN 9780744307375
 Audiobook ISBN 9780744307382
 
 
 Library of Congress Control Number: 2022941967
 Cover and book design by Maryann Appel
 5 3 1 2 4
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 For my husband,
 your support and unconditional love
 gives me wings.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 OLIVIA
 
 
 
 
 
 Yet another teacher dead.
 High-pitched screams and the blare of fire alarms echoed through the school’s hallways. The student body stood paralyzed, crammed arm to arm in the main lobby, gaping at our athletic advisor’s corpse suspended from the ceiling, the hefty rope used for climbing in gym class snaked around his broken neck. His cognac-colored shoes dangled several feet from my face. His open eyes, glassy and lifeless, stared at the wall. Bruises dotted his collarbone, and fragmented black-and-blue splotches spread up toward his chin.
 Another hanging.
 Jessica whimpered as she trembled in my arms. “Your dad, Liv. Call him.”
 I shook my head. I had no doubt he was already on his way, so I didn’t even jump when my cell phone rang in my pocket. I swiped to answer.
 “Livy, where are you? Where’s Pepper?” my dad asked through the speaker. He tried to hide it, but I could hear the concern in his voice.
 “School,” I answered, pulling myself together with a calming breath and rubbing my amethyst stone resting inside my coat pocket.
 Principal McKenna and several other teachers had come onto the scene, ushering all the students out the front and side doors. But I just stood there, with Jessica’s arm looped through mine, her other hand holding my forearm in a death grip.
 “Another teacher’s dead, Dad. What the hell is going on? There’s no way these are all suicides.”
 “Language, Livy. Language,” he said, robotically, as if now was the perfect time to impart life lessons.
 Three deaths.
 The first death, Mr. Camber, our health teacher, had been deemed a suicide. The second, Mrs. Dreyfuss, our school nurse, was still under investigation. And now, here we were, back from winter break, ready for a fresh start, and . . . this. Mr. Kline. Why would anyone target the teachers of Falkville Falls High School?
 “Ms. Davis, Ms. Packey, please exit the building,” Principal McKenna said. The creases around her lips and eyes belied her calm, in-charge tone.
 “I have to find Pepper.” My voice finally caught up with my brain.
 My sister was challenging, but she and Dad were all I had. I was four when Mom died giving birth to Pepper. Dad rarely talked about Mom, and my memories of her were fuzzy.
 “All the students have been asked to exit the school. You can find her outside,” Principal McKenna said through clenched jaws.
 I’d almost forgotten I was on the phone until I heard my father’s command. “Go outside. I’m one block away. I’ll find Pepper.” Directions given, he hung up.
 Jessica hauled me by the elbow. “Come on, Liv. Let’s look for her outside.”
 I slipped out of Jessica’s grasp, zipped up my jacket, and shoved through the herd of students pushing out the front doors we’d entered minutes earlier.
 Falkville Falls High School hosted less than five hundred students, but with everyone crammed on the lawn, it resembled a rock-concert venue. I played with my soothing stone, flipping it between my fingers, as I searched the crowd for Pepper. Amethyst was supposed to relieve stress and bring balance to my mind and body, but when it came to my little sister, no crystal or stone would help. I’d saged her room so many times, the strong earthy scent had been absorbed into the furniture.
 I heaved a sigh of relief when I found her, glued to Dustin’s towering frame. Once I’d woven my way through the crowd, I let my backpack drop to the snow-dusted ground at their feet.
 “I got her,” Dustin said, squeezing Pepper into his side.
 I released the breath I had been holding and stopped rubbing my stone.